Novartis General Counsel to Step Down After Cohen Payments

• While contract was legal, ‘it was an error,’ counsel says • Lawyer is first casualty at Novartis in furor over contract

Novartis AG’s top lawyer became the first executive to take the fall for the controversial $1.2 million in payments he helped arrange to Donald Trump’s attorney, as the drugmaker tries to contain the furor from last week’s revelation.

Felix Ehrat, who along with former Chief Executive Officer Joe Jimenez signed the agreement with a consulting firm led by lawyer Michael Cohen, will step down after seven years as Novartis’s general counsel, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said Wednesday ...